After running, or at least attempting to qualify for, every single superspeedway race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule during each of the first five years of Live Fast Motorsports' existence, team owner B.J. McLeod decided to end that streak in 2026 and allow Daniel Dye to make his Cup debut at Talladega Superspeedway in April and compete at Daytona International Speedway in August.
With Dye also set to compete at Talladega later this month, McLeod himself was without plans to drive the No. 78 Chevrolet later in the year. That is still the case, but he's not done competing in the Cup Series this year just yet.
In a somewhat surprising move, the Live Fast Motorsports owner is set to compete for NY Racing Team this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NY Racing Team have made just six appearances this year and none since Joey Gase drove the No. 44 Chevrolet at Daytona in August.
B.J. McLeod joins a new team for Charlotte NASCAR race
NY Racing Team have made five starts in those six appearances, as they failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 for the third consecutive season with J.J. Yeley in the No. 44 car.
Their top finish is Yeley's 21st place effort at Michigan International Speedway in June, which was just one spot shy of the team's all-time top finishes of 20th, recorded by Gase at Daytona in 2024 and the late Greg Biffle at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2022.
Yeley has made three starts this year while Gase has made two.
With the No. 44 Chevrolet being one of only three non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list for Sunday's 267-lap Bank of America 400 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval, McLeod is locked into the race.
Despite the surprising nature of the move, this isn't actually the first time McLeod has driven for a team other than Live Fast Motorsports since the team's inception in 2021, although he never did so when the team ran the No. 78 car full-time as a chartered car from 2021 to 2023. He competed for Carl Long's MBM Motorsports (now Garage 66) twice in 2024.
Before Live Fast Motorsports began competing in the Cup Series in 2021, McLeod occasionally competed for his own B.J. McLeod Motorsports team throughout the 2020 season. Even then, however, he also made select starts with Spire Motorsports that same year.
McLeod made his Cup debut in 2015 with Circle Sport and then competed in select races for Rick Ware Racing from 2017 to 2019 (plus the 2020 Daytona 500). He has never previously competed for NY Racing Team.
As for this coming weekend at Charlotte, the other two open cars on the entry list are the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, which is set to be driven by Gray Gaulding, and the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, which is set to be drive by two-time 2026 winner Corey Heim.
Live Bank of America 400 coverage from Charlotte Motor Speedway is set to be provided by USA Network beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 11. Don't miss any of the action from the 2026 season's sixth playoff race and the first at the Charlotte oval since 2017!
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